This show invites viewers to become part of the Pearson family. Both to share in their triumphs and to feel their heartbreak. Characters are so realistic and their familial connection is so genuine, its easy to imagine your own family members in their place.
The second season of This Is Us begins with the triplets’ 37th birthday. Kate is engaged to Toby, Kevin’s acting career is in full swing, and Randall wants to adopt a child. For one brief moment, The Big Three is happy. Then, season two kicks it into the highest emotional gear available by telling the devastating story at the center of the show – Jack’s death.
Everyone in the Pearson family is haunted by Jack and the way that he died. While they all have that in common, they each process their grief in different ways. Some ways are destructive, some are painful to watch, and some are just downright confusing. But the important thing is that through it all, the Pearsons stand together. There is frustration and fighting, but the strength of this family is central to the season.
SPOILERS FOR SEASON TWO (AND JACK’S DEATH) AHEAD
One of the things I enjoy most about This Is Us is the creative way that the writers chose to tell the Pearsons’ story. From practically the beginning of the show we all knew that the patriarch of this adorable family, Jack, was doomed to the worst fate imaginable…we just didn’t know all the details.
So how did Jack die? Short answer: fire. Longer answer: smoke inhalation. Translation: he was a hero that saved his whole family, their dog, and irreplaceable family photos from a burning house. And this wasn’t any small house fire, it was more flame than home by the time the Pearsons woke up. Their escape scenes were so suspenseful and terrifying (I’m never leaving a small kitchen appliance plugged in again) that it felt like it was your family in that house. No wonder his family idolizes him so much even 20 years after his death.
Each episode of this season drops subtle hints about the fire that ultimately caused his death, but even in Jack’s final moments his death was shocking. The excellent writing and acting made that moment so powerful, I’d have to dare even the toughest person not to shed a tear.
While Jack’s death was a main theme of the season, there’s even more drama in the Pearson family that needs to be addressed. In his own way of coping with his father’s death, Kevin develops a substance addiction. We learn that he never truly processed his unhappiness from his life as the almost football star, or his guilt over not being there when his father died. He’s haunted by his decisions and end up abusing pain medication for his injured knee. It takes a while, but once the Pearsons know about Kevin’s addiction, they swoop in with love and support (and some intense emotional conversation) and he seems to have turned things around by the end of the season.
Kate is living with Toby they are still working on getting healthy. Kate seems really intense about it, which we later learn is because she is pregnant and wants to be as healthy as possible for her unborn child. The happiness of a new baby is suddenly ripped away by the devastation of a miscarriage. Kate blames herself and falls off the healthy eating wagon. It takes some motherly love from Rebecca and support from her nemesis-turned-friend, Madison, to grieve properly and decide that she wants to try again to have a baby with Toby.
Randall is fixed on adopting a baby because he wants to honor his parents and his biological father, William, who just passed away. His wife, Beth, suggests that the best way that they could help a child in need and really make a difference would be to foster a child. That’s where we meet Deja, a 12 year old girl who has been in and out of foster care for years. Randall desperately wants to connect with Deja and make her feel welcome, but that proves to be a much more difficult task than he had originally thought. After learning more about Deja’s past and her mother, he is able to communicate with her better and the whole family embraces her as one of their own. Deja’s mother eventually gets out of jail and takes Deja back, but then realizes that she can’t take care of her as well as she deserves. She waives all parental rights to Deja, and the Pearsons plan to adopt her. Unfortunately, Deja did not react well to her mother legally disowning her. She takes out her frustration on the Pearsons, and the season ends with her bashing Randall’s fancy car Carrie Underwood style.
Season two has a lot of ups and downs, but the beating heart of the Pearson family is strong. After all of the momentum and character development so far, season three is sure to continue to impress.
